COVID-19 vaccine records were stolen from an off-site vaccination clinic held by Safeway in Washington, D.C.
Parent company Albertsons Cos. said Tuesday that, on Sept. 8, an employee who facilitated Safeway’s COVID vaccine clinic at the Fort Stanton Recreation Center at 1812 Erie St. SE in the District of Columbia was “the victim of a theft,” and stolen items included 138 paper vaccination consent forms for patients who visited this site on Sept. 2, 4 or 7.
Safeway immediately notified law enforcement and launched an internal investigation, according to Albertsons. Though currently there are no indications that any of the stolen information has been misused, Safeway on Sept. 16 mailed notifications to all individuals that it could identify as potentially being impacted, the company said.
In addition, Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway is asking anyone who attended the clinic on any of those three days to call (202) 941-6412 to help verify that its electronic records accurately reflect their COVID vaccination status.
“Safeway Pharmacies make every effort to handle patient records with the utmost care and privacy, and we deeply regret this situation,” Amir Masood, director of pharmacy operations for Safeway’s Eastern division, said in a statement. “We notified the impacted patients that we could identify, and we are taking measures to avoid a future occurrence, including improving training to reinforce controls and policies related to paper forms.”
All of Albertsons Cos.’ 1,730 pharmacies offer COVID-19 vaccines and on a walk-in basis as well as at off-site clinics, a company spokeswoman said. To date, Albertsons has administered approximately 7 million COVID vaccinations.
Overall, Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons Cos. operated 2,278 retail food and drug stores in 34 states and the District of Columbia under such banners as Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings Food Markets and Balducci’s Food Lovers Market.
